These photographs provide a good
reminder of the influence of the gentry
from the 'Big House' on the local community
in Victorian times.
They show part of the festivities for the wedding of a daughter of the
Lewis Lloyd family of Nantgwyylt,
one of the two mansions in the valleys flooded by the waterworks.

Watching
the wedding
preparations1890s

These pictures are
thought to have been taken at Bryntirion,
to the north of Rhayader.
The family moved here after the loss of the house at Nantgwyllt.

Photographs
with many thanks toJohn JonesofRhayader

Although the valleys of the rivers
Claerwen and Elan were very sparsely populated, it is clear that people
must have gathered from miles around to watch the elaborately decorated
carriages of the wedding party.